Football
Dermot Corrigan, Madrid correspondent 9y

Carlo Ancelotti is proud of Real Madrid record and wants to stay with club

Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said he is happy to continue in the job, but knows his future is out of hands, when speaking after Los Blancos crashed out of the Champions League to Juventus at the semifinal stage on Wednesday night.

Madrid went into their last four return game 2-1 down to the Serie A champions, but seemed set for the final after Cristiano Ronaldo had converted a first-half penalty.

Los Blancos faded after the break however and ex-Madrid striker Alvaro Morata scored an equaliser on the night, for a 3-2 final aggregate scoreline which sent Juve through to face Barcelona in the final in Munich on June 6.

The post-game news conference at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu had a very end of an era feel. However he said that he would stay at the club until informed otherwise.

"It is not up to me to talk about my future," the Italian coach said. "I have decided I would like to stay here. But I know very well how football is. A club has the right to end things if they are not happy with the coach. We must finish the season well, then talk."

Ancelotti, who won the Champions League and Copa del Rey trophies during his first season at the club, said he was happy with his two seasons so far at the Bernabeu.

"I am happy with what I have done," he said. "I have had a very good relationship with the players, good support from the club in all moments, good and bad moments. So I would judge it positively. Not for me to give a mark out of 10 for this season. I would always say 10, as I work hard, as I like the job. The club will give the mark. They are there to judge the work of a coach."

Ancelotti said he could not fault the effort his team had put in, even though it had not been enough in the end.

"We gave everything we could give in this game," Ancelotti said. "We fought, worked, played well, had many chances. I have nothing to reprove the team for tonight. Whether we deserved to go out or not depends on your opinion. We are sad, which is normal, to be leaving this competition."

His team had paid for some bad luck over the two legs, and a below-par performance in last week's first leg in Turin, Ancelotti claimed.

"We have lacked very little, just small details," he said. "We did not have much luck either. We must consider that too. You could say you have luck when you win the Champions League in the last minute [like Madrid did last season], or bad luck when you go out like this.

"The first leg we could have played different. But tonight's game I am proud of my players, 100 percent. I thank them as they worked at maximum."

Madrid now look very unlikely to win any silverware this season, with Barcelona four points clear in the La Liga table with just two fixtures remaining [potential players strike allowing]. Tonight's disappointment followed on from Saturday's 2-2 home draw with Valencia and Ancelotti admitted his team had lacked some freshness at this key moment of the season.

"I do not think we are exhausted," he said. "In the second half of both games we pushed a lot, we had to recover the result. Against Valencia I did not see the team look tired. Tonight we shot a lot, but not too many were on target, maybe a bit of freshness would have helped us be more efficient. We had a dip during the season, but we had some important injuries.

"We have fought well, and must fight again in our last two [La Liga] games. This is not the moment to start a discussion about reinforcements for the team. I still think this is a very, very strong squad."

Asked about next month's Champions League final, Ancelotti said his former club Juve would go into the game as underdogs, but would have their chances.

"For the final of course Barcelona are favourites, but anything can happen in football," he said.

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